“Viscount Sydney,” said my mother.
“That’s the fellow, but Macquarie is the man who made the place what it is. He said this was going to be a capital city of the world and believe me it’s fast becoming one. He’s built roads, houses, bridges, factories … We’ve even got our own newspaper. Yes, the Sydney Gazette. You can read all about it in there.”
Matthew said: “I’m interested in the convicts. I’m writing a book about them and I’ve come to collect information.”
“Well, take my advice, Matt.” He had already taken upon himself to give what he considered an appropriate version of Matthew’s name. “Don’t let them know what they’re saying is going into a book or they’ll shut up like clams. You’ve got to get them to talk naturally. Let it come out in conversation. I’ll show you a few of them on the property. They’ll be ready to talk.”
“That will be wonderful,” cried Matthew.
“I see you’re looking at me hopefully. Well, sorry to disappoint you. I’m not one of them. Came from Yorkshire. My father was a settler and it was Sir Jake here who put him in charge of the property. He died five years ago and I took over. I wasn’t born here, but then, who was? But I’ve adopted it. It’s my country and I’m proud of the way it’s going.”
He talked a great deal about the city and the property, the price of wool, of droughts, plagues of insects and of forest fires, which were a continual source of anxiety during the summer months.
I found myself listening with interest and wondered what my father thought of him.
I discovered later that evening.
“He’s certainly got a good opinion of himself,” said Jacco.
“I think we might well find a great number of his sort here,” my father pointed out.
“Surely there could only be one Greg,” said my mother. “Really he is most forceful … democratic, I suppose he would call it … insisting on Christian names so soon.”
“I thought your manager might be a little more subservient,” I said.
“We mustn’t expect that here. I imagine they are no respecters of position. It’s the way of the country.”
“He’s brash,” I said.
“I thought you took quite a dislike to him,” Jacco told me. “I thought he should have shown more respect to Papa.”
“Oh, he wasn’t disrespectful,” my father defended him. “That’s what you call masculine dignity.”
“I thought it was arrogance,” I insisted.
“I believe he’s a good man from what I gather,” said my father firmly. “Well, we shall find out.”
“I don’t see why we should delay looking at the property,” said Jacco.
“No reason at all. We’ll go as soon as Greg can arrange the transport.” He looked at my mother.
“I’ll be all right on horseback,” she said. “I’ve been riding all my life, haven’t I? A few miles of this bush or whatever they call it isn’t going to worry me.”
“It’ll be a bit rough going. We shall stay the nights at those inns.”
“Well, I must say I don’t fancy bivouacking—even under the expert guidance of our Greg.”
“No. I shall insist on the inns.”
“Helena can’t come,” I said.
“Oh dear,” said my mother.
“Matthew can take care of her,” put in Jacco. “After all, that’s his job now.”
“She’s nervous still. She clings in spite of everything.”
My mother said: “I think Annora had better stay here while we investigate. She’s right about Helena. The poor girl is in a nervous state. She went through a lot with poor little John Milward. To my mind he ought to know what’s happened. Anyway, you stay here, Annora. We’ll report. Trust me to see that when you come to the property you have as much comfort as I can get for you.”
“I’m longing to see it all.”
“So are we all,” said Jacco. “I don’t see why Matthew Hume can’t look after Helena.”
However it was finally decided that I should stay and a few days later my father and mother and Jacco set out, under the guidance of Greg, to see the property. They had acquired good horses and all that they would need for the journey. It had all been arranged with efficiency, said my father, by Greg.
Helena and I were together all the time. Matthew was out all day and would come back full of excitement. He talked to people and when he returned he kept to his room writing copious notes.
The relationship between him and Helena was a very unusual one. I was sure he thought that he had done his good deed by marrying her and there his responsibility ended. Helena said: “It was wonderful of him, but it is not like a marriage, Annora. It couldn’t be … after John. There couldn’t be anyone else for me.”
“Not after he deserted you!”
“He didn’t know about the baby.”
“He ought to,” I said.
“Oh, I couldn’t bear that. I wouldn’t want him to come back to me because he thought he ought to. I think that would be something between us all our lives, and it would have its effect on the child. He might resent it because it was due to the child that he had come back. After all,” she added with unexpected rationality, “if he had wanted to marry me, he would, no matter what anyone said. I mean if it had been the most important thing in the world …”
We took one of the buggies and went to the shops. There we bought clothes for the baby. I think Helena enjoyed that. We rode through the town and when we saw Hyde Park, we felt quite near home.
“These are our people, Helena,” I said. “We shouldn’t feel that we are strangers in a strange land.”
“I’m glad to be here with you, Annora. What should I have done if I had had to face all this at home?”
“There would have been a way. There always is.”
“But this was like a miracle. Your planning to come out here … and then my coming, too. Suppose I had been at home!”
“Your mother would have helped you.”
“I know. But I think I should have died of shame.”
“People don’t die of shame.”
“I should have done what I nearly did.”
“No more talk of that,” I said briskly. “I think this gown is absolutely lovely. Oh, Helena, I can’t wait for the baby. I’m already thinking of it as ours.”
It was quite a pleasant morning really. When we were back in the hotel we examined the clothes, put them away carefully and talked of the baby. I was thinking of my parents and wondering what they were doing. I imagined them, riding out in this strange land, and beside them, leading them, would be the boastful Greg.
Those days seemed long. I was waiting impatiently for the return of my family. I longed to hear what they had found at Sealands Creek.
Matthew was exuberant. He was succeeding beyond his expectations. He was taking Greg’s advice and not telling those he spoke to that he was recording their words. That way they spoke frankly.
When we dined in the evening he talked continuously of what he had discovered that day. He did not ask what we had been doing or how Helena was feeling. I have noticed since how so many of those who devote themselves to doing good for the masses have little time for the individual. True, Matthew had married Helena as an act of uncalculated goodness; but that was a spectacular event. It was the small things he had not time for.
I started to tell him about our shopping expedition but changed my mind.
“I met this fellow,” he was saying. “He’s been on the hulks before he came out. What luck for me! I have very little on the hulks. He told me they lived on board and left the hulk each day to do ten hours’ hard labour. His hulk was in the river … some of them were in the docks. He described it to me so that I could almost see it. I’m getting it on paper tonight so that I don’t forget a detail. There is a lower deck with a passage down the middle … and on each side of the passage the space is divided into wards. They have about twenty of them all jammed together for there is little space. There are no beds. They sleep in the darkness on the floor. It’s a terrible life. Many of them are glad when they leave the hulks for the journey across the sea. What these people suffer! It’s uncivilized. It’s got to be abolished sooner or later. I’m going to see this comes about. I’m not going to rest until I do.”